10, 11.12
Stuntwoman!
Ika Schwander & Lizzy Deacon / Frascati Producties
My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life
The shadow world of the stuntwoman steps into the spotlight in this tribute to a body that is both unique and endlessly replaceable. She jumps out of the airplane. She crashes the car. She breaks her bones. And the moment the cameras stop rolling, her name is erased.
In Stuntwoman!, Ika Schwander and Lizzy Deacon delve into the hidden world of the stuntwoman: the body that embodies danger yet must remain invisible. The double who takes the fall but never receives the credit. The body asked to do the impossible—and then quietly edited out of the picture.
Meticulously executed stunt work alternates with moments of vulnerability. For this production, Ika collaborates with identical twin acrobats Clementine and Grace Tonkin Wells, Guinness World Record holders for foot-to-foot trapeze hangs.
What drives a woman to seek out risk? Who gets to embody danger, and who ultimately gets to stand in the spotlight? What is lost when the body that truly falls is replaced by the body that receives the applause? When does authenticity give way to simulation?
Ika Schwander (1999, Luxembourg) studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and graduated from the Performance programme at the Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts in 2023.
For this production, Ika collaborates with artist Lizzy Deacon (1999, UK). In their shared artistic practice, they explore how the body is shaped, represented, and archived in film and television. Their work has been presented in theatres, museums, galleries, and festivals both nationally and internationally.
